Imagine forking over $2.38 million of your own cash to buy a 60-year-old house — which, by the way, has no real everyday functionality and needs at least $300,000 in repairs. On top of that, your sole intent is donating the home only weeks later in the name of historic preservation. This comes all while hiding your identity.

Sounds far-fetched by most standards, right?

That’s exactly what the new mystery owner of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Phoenix has done and plans to do as early as within the month or so.

“This purchase is a magnificent and generous action,” Larry Woodin, president of the Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, said in a statement Thursday. “It is a gift to the people of Phoenix, a gift to the worldwide architectural community and to everyone that cares about the history of modern architecture. We are enormously grateful to this benefactor for making sure there will be a new chapter in the life of this important and unique Frank Lloyd Wright building.”

The formation of this not-for-profit is currently underway and being facilitated by the Conservancy, which is the same group that persuaded the city back in June to save the Wright home from demolition through a historic landmark designation. It will be responsible for the restoration, maintenance and operation of the property long-term, the statement said.

The Conservancy’s interest in the property is also long term, as it plans to have representatives sit on the new nonprofit’s board of directors, Janet Halstead, the Conservancy’s executive director, told me Thursday.

Plans are still in the early stages, but the endeavor already comes with a hefty price tag right up front — restoration costs alone range from $300,000 to $500,000, according to a recent study by the city of Phoenix. The Conservancy will thus be soliciting public donations to cover such costs, the statement said.

The new owner also hopes Phoenix City Council will move forward with its vote to designate the property as a historic landmark, which has twice been delayed over the past several weeks and is now tentatively scheduled for Jan. 16.

A landmark designation would impose a three-year demolition ban on the property and long-term restrictions on what changes the owner can make to the building. A conservation easement is also being considered as a more permanent solution for the home’s preservation.

Additionally, the city is hoping the new owner — whether that be the current anonymous buyer or the new nonprofit — applies for the property to be listed on the National Registar of Historic Places.

Halstead said the Conservancy supports that move as well, but isn’t pushing for it since the National Registrar does not offer protections for its listings.